Book Image

Implementing SugarCRM 5.x

Book Image

Implementing SugarCRM 5.x

Overview of this book

SugarCRM is a popular customer relationship management system. It is an ideal way for small-medium business to try out a CRM system without committing large sums of money. Although SugarCRM is carefully designed for ease of use, attaining measurable business gains requires careful planning and research. This book will give you all the information you need to start using this powerful CRM system. It is the definitive guide to implementing SugarCRM. Whether you are wondering exactly what benefits CRM can bring or you have already learned about CRM systems but have yet to implement one or you're working with SugarCRM already, this book will show you how to get maximum benefit from this exciting product. It demonstrates how to install SugarCRM and also how to get the most out of it by customizing it and integrating CRM into your organization as per your needs. Focused on the needs of the enterprise, this book provides a solution-driven approach for both business and IT specialists to get the most from this powerful and popular Open Source application. It begins with a general discussion about CRM. You will then learn the benefits of such systems, and then explore SugarCRM and its unique value. You will then go through the guidelines for installing and making deployment selections that are set out alongside information for identifying, planning, and applying customizations. Training guidelines and ongoing administrative tasks will be discussed as you progress further into the book. A brief overview of SugarCRM 6.0 is provided at the end of the book.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Implementing SugarCRM 5.x
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
Preface

Chapter 4. SugarCRM Basics

Now that we have covered some of the essentials offered in CRM systems, itemized its value to a smaller business, and studied the theoretical aspects of customizing it to properly fit each business that uses them, it is time we made use of the SugarCRM server that we deployed in the previous chapter.

In this chapter, we will take a guided tour of SugarCRM. Our task-oriented, systematic treatment will also relate the specifics of the SugarCRM system and its user interface with the general principles of CRM systems.

This chapter will cover the basic CRM functions and show how they are interpreted and performed within SugarCRM. These basic CRM concepts include the following:

  • Common CRM processes and terminology

  • Creating accounts and contacts, and relating multiple contacts to a single account

  • Following links between related data to get a full view of a customer

  • Creating and tracking the Sales Pipeline from leads to opportunities to contacts and accounts

  • Creating and monitoring...